Title: Murder of the Bhojpuri Dance Queen
Author: Asimava Roy Choudhury
Genre: Murder mystery
My rating: 3.5/5

While returning from Jabalpur to Kolkata by the Shaktipunj express Arup Nandy meets Tanishka Singh, the Bhojpuri song and dance queen. His ecstasy at meeting her is short lived due to the occurrence of two very disrupting incidents. In the morning, Tanishka madam is found dead, having been murdered some time in the night. Arup is one of the suspects and is taken into custody by the local police. Priyonka Srivastav, a local advocate, decides to take up his case against the formidable public prosecutor, Mahaditya Joshi or Maddit. Arup manages to get interim bail after considerable effort but he seems to get deeper into trouble with his temporary freedom. A desperate Arup tries out all conjuring tricks he can think up in the ensuing courtroom drama but can he ultimately ward off the slowly approaching noose of death?

Murder of the Bhojpuri Dance Queen by Asimava Roy Choudhury is a novella that centres around a murder mystery of a famous Bhojpuri dancer and YouTuber Tanishka Singh. Arup Nandy, one of the co-passengers — accused of molesting Tanishka— was taken into custody. The homicide of eyewitness Burka (Tanishka’s maid) was a turning point in the case. The story thus moved further with more twists and turns as the mystery behind the two murders begun to unfold.

It’s been a while since I have read a murder mystery, and this turned out to be a short and engaging read. I like courtroom dramas and this book has plenty of courtroom scenes. The whole story is in Arup’s point of view. Although his character was a bit annoying at times, I liked the way he represented himself in court and how he changed the course of the case through his arguments.

What started as Tanishka’s murder mystery, slowly transformed into Burka’s and I kinda liked that plot twist. I enjoyed the courtroom arguments between Maddit (Public Prosecutor) and Priyonka (Defense lawyer). But the sudden love interest between them felt forced and unnecessary. For me, the professional front shown between them fits well.

The book kept me guessing until the end. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better. The climax blew my mind. I didn’t see the twist coming at the end. In fact, it changed my overall opinion about the book. The plot and pace of the book were good. But there were a few things I felt could have been avoided. For instance, the mob attack scene at the police station was completely unnecessary and could have been avoided. Apart from that, it’s a good one-time short read.

*Thanks to the author for the review copy. All opinions are mine.*